


Midday Discussions

by WritingPuzzlesandProblems



Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, Other, can be seen as romance if you want it too, im just very bad at romance, like in general, little angsty, only a little though, scrap that im just bad at writing, so it doesnt have to be, this is a birthday gift tho so here i am
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2019-07-25 15:46:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16200635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingPuzzlesandProblems/pseuds/WritingPuzzlesandProblems
Summary: Sometimes words can effect us more than we want them to.





	Midday Discussions

**Author's Note:**

> Ughh, struggling to work AO3 but here it is! A thing! My thing! It's not the best thing but it sure is a thing!
> 
> Also, lots of my headcannons are in this but I don't think I went too overboard? I hope.
> 
> Wait is Lucy even from Yorkshire? She mentions liking Yorkshire tea once right? She doesn't have a voice so I'm not 100% sure. But I'm Yorkshire and biased so now she is.

They found that, more often than not, when a criminal was backed into a corner their true colours would always rise to the surface, no matter how good the performance.  
Some would spit insults through gritted teeth and some would stay quiet, refusing to cooperate. Although that never lasted long in the Mystery Room. However sometimes, on a rare occasion, one would say something that would knock one of them so off guard that, even if just for a little while, it would play on their minds no matter how hard they tried to escape it. It was never the big things that hurt, no the cries of “see you in hell” and “you’ll pay for this” never wounded them. It was the small things. A jungle never mamed , it was the seed of regret that could grow into the deadliest of thorns but also the most beautiful of roses.

“And that were where you hid’t murder weapon Miss Jans!” She cried, eyes gleaming with success.  
They were stood side by side; Lucy pointing confidently at a Miss Thera Jans, a woman accused of murdering a rich heiress on a train bound through Europe, as Alfendi, mouth curved into self-satisfied smirk, watched the scene unfold.  
Her face contorted violently, “Ridiculous, I see no proof!” She truly did refuse to give up. It was sad really to watch a grown woman squirm like a fish out of water, backed so far into a corner yet refusing to admit defeat.  
Lucy learned forward, fists clenched,“ You’re forgetting that your fingerprints are all over’t door in’t neighboring carriage,” she exclaimed, frustrated,”which you opened after faking Mrs Robert’s scream to confuse’t time of death!”  
Jans scoffed confidently, crossing her arms in defiance.  
“She’s correct.” Alfendi began, his hair disheveled, eyes crazed and his voice penetrating, “Although I must say it was a brilliantly crafted idea, use your skills as an ex-ventriloquist to fake the victim’s scream in turn giving yourself an false alibi! I can imagine how proud you must have been of yourself!”  
Jans clenched her fists angrily as she cried, throwing her voice around the room, “Ugh! ‘Ow could you stand there and criticise me when ‘er ‘usband was the monster who killed her! I do not know why I ever came to this ‘orrid city!” She quickly glanced around the room before her eyes settled on Lucy. “You there, girl. You are not from this city either non?”  
Lucy tilted her head, confused, “Aye I’m not but that-“ Jans clicked her fingers in annoyance, stopping Lucy’s words, commanding the utmost attention, “ ‘Ow you do not regret moving ‘ere is beyond me madmasell! I’m sure your family must be very disappointed, oui? Jans smirked maliciously, Alfendi noted how she used her words to try taunt her way out of being prosecuted. Lucy, however, had not. “Ee, now you’ve crossed a line love..” she said fiercely. Lucy could put up with a lot of things from suspects but jabs at her family were certainly not one one of them.  
Alfendi sighed in annoyance. Bickering would get them nowhere. If they wanted to wrap up the case then they need to knock Jans’ ego to ensure she wasn’t as irritably confident as she was now, until then Jans would purposely keep arguing with Lucy until she was so angry she wouldn’t be able to form a cohesive sentence and Jans would walk free. “Shut up before I throw the both of you off the Thames!” he bellowed.

The case itself was not one of particular peculiarity amongst the mountains of others they’ve solved, nor was it all the more difficult to solve because of Miss Jans reluctance to give in. Criminals seemed to think that they were different, that they were better than all the others who’ve walked into the Mystery Room proclaiming innocence; but in reality they were all quite similar and only a very small few truly stood out from the stream of wrongdoers that passed through their lives daily. They managed to finally managed to crack the case and haul Jans into custody without much delay and all they had to do now was wait for her to confess; however what was strange about the case was the effect that Jans’ words had on Lucy. Normally by the end of a case she would be energetic and full of her usual adrenaline that Alfendi oh so often witnessed, however this time she seemed slightly distant as if her mind kept wandering elsewhere.

They sat in the Mystery Room after the suspect had been taken away, as they always did, although this time Alfendi could not relax in the comfort of routine -despite how desperate he was for it after an especially draining personality switch- Lucy was still not acting like herself. She sat on the sofa, head in her hands, staring into the distance and not a word passed between them. This was most definitely not routine.  
“Is everything okay Lucy?” he inquired.  
Lucy jumped before turning to look at him, blinking slowly while doing so, “Oh? Aye I’m alright, don’t worry about me.” As hard as she may have tried to look alright, Lucy couldn't help but contemplate the same questions over and over again in her head. What if her family weren’t proud of her? What if moving to pursue a career in Scotland Yard wasn’t the best choice for her? Why? Why was this one thing that a suspect said in the heat of the moment affecting her so much? If she couldn’t handle that that what chance did she have when dealing with the bigger criminals.  
Alfendi watched her carefully, she couldn’t have failed at looking okay more if she’d tried. “Lucy, if this is about what Miss Jans said, you needn’t listen to her. You know what criminals are like when they know they’ve been caught,” he said slowly, trying to be as reassuring as he could, however Lucy’s face didn’t change one bit, “Uh, but if you do feel caught up on it, you can talk to me.”  
Nothing. She was still sat staring into the distance with a look on her face, that made Alfendi’s heart sink. He didn’t know what else to say, or if there was even anything to be said at all. 

“I just wish that it didn’t make me feel weak.” She whispered softly.

Alfendi stopped dead. He didn’t know to do, he’d never been good with comforting people and for some unbeknownst reason a part of him acked to see this stop and have Lucy return to her normally outspoken and lively self. “ I can assure you that weak is not one of the words I associate with the name Lucy Baker.” he jested.  
Still nothing. Not even a word. It seemed nothing could make her feel better, so for a moment they sat in silence as he debated on what to do.  
“Do you know Prof’” She said after few more beats of deafening silence “Sometimes I wonder if I should have stayed in Yorkshire. Not that I don’t love working ‘ere, it’s just that sometimes I miss home so much that I’m not sure if I’m even cut out for this.” She raised her head to look at him and he knew that he to say something but her words had taken him off guard and all he muster was, “Lucy..”  
Her eyes widened quickly as she registered what had just left her mouth, “Oh god, sorry Prof. I didn’t mean to unload that all on you.”  
And then in that moment Alfendi finally realised what to do. “Talk to me about it.”  
She tilted her head in confusion,“Ee, you what?”  
Alfendi smiled warmly, “I’d like to understand so if you wouldn’t mind; I want you to tell me about your childhood.”  
She was quiet for a second, although it wasn’t a sad quiet. It was a nice quiet as she scanned her mind for the nostalgic memories that she held so close to her heart, a comforting quiet that proudly contrasted the upset silence of before. “I remember” She said, grinning as she reminisced,” that when I was right little we all used to walk through’t blackberry fields and we picked ‘em till we couldn’t hold anymore. Then when we got back, my Mam would bake ‘em into a pie for us.” A small giggle escaped from her lips as the innocence of her childhood rose to the surface.  
“That sounds lovely.” he said, watching her face as it lit up brightly.  
“Aye it was, don’t go thinking we had our own blackberry fields like.” Lucy said hastily, unaware that no such conclusion had even been made, “Nah’t farmer who owned ‘em let us do it ‘cause we’d always leave him and his wife a slice of pie each. He were a right good bloke that Mr Brant. He always used to leave a small section of one of his wheat fields unplanted so that all’t kids from’t secondary school could walk through it ‘cause it were faster to get home that way you see.”  
It was strange, how fast someone's mood could change when given the right prompting, of course simply talking about what Lucy missed would not make everything okay. But it cheered her up, and for now that was enough. 

“You see Lucy, we all miss things. Missing things show that we had something good in our lives that was worth missing. It doesn’t make us weak.”He said. It’s strange, how magnificently we manage to ignore our own advice.

“... Prof, can I ask you sommat?” She inquired, focusing more on her curiosity than her problems. “What is it Lucy?” he replied.  
“You said that “we all miss things,” Lucy said cautiously, “So what is it that you miss?”

This time the switch was short, if it hadn’t have been for the physical change it would have been unnoticeable. His head flew almost instantaneously into his hand as the Mystery Room was once again plunged into silence. 

“Ee, sorry Prof. I should have thought before I asked” she began.

“...My father.”

Lucy had to stop herself before she gasped loudly. She wasn’t quite sure exactly what she had expected the answer to be but it most definitely wasn’t that. She watched as it was now Alfendi’s turn to control the silence.  
“He went missing when I was 18 and he hasn’t come back,” he paused, “even though he said he would.”  
“Oh Prof, I’m really sorry.” she replied treading carefully as to not upset her currently unstable partner. He flicked his hand, brushing away her sympathy, “Nonsense Lucy, you’ve only just found out. How could you possibly-“  
She sighed, it was pitiful the way he refused her words, “Ee, now that isn’t what I mean and you know it.” He stayed quiet, counting the seconds go by in the silence that engulfed them.  
Lucy contemplated for a second, she wanted to help. She wanted to help him like he had helped her, “What was he like?”

He looked up, surprised, “Whatever are you going on about.”  
“You helped me feel better and now I’m trying to do’t same for you. That’s what partners do,” she said trying to bring ,if only an ounce of, comfort to him, “So, what do you remember most about your old man?”  
Alfendi paused, the taciturnity lasted for an eternity.  
“Puzzles. My father was obsessed with them, he’d constantly pester us with them.” he said masking the warmness in his voice. Lucy smiled, Alfendi never opened up about himself unless absolutely necessary so this was an accomplishment that she wouldn’t soon forget. “Ee, your old man must have really liked ‘em if he always wanted to share ‘em with you. That’s right sweet that is.”

Alfendi smirked, “You’re starting to sound like Flora”. The mood lifted almost instantaneously in the room as Lucy let out a soft chuckle, “I am? You’re right lucky I like your sister then Prof.” Alfendi shook his head as he thought back to his youth, remembering the look of pride on his father’s face that always accompanied a correctly solved puzzle, the smell of his hat and then how easily it could be masked by the stench of Flora’s kitchen mishaps in the evening. “Hm, you’re lucky you haven’t tried her cooking then. I don’t know how Katrielle eats it” he contested.  
“It can’t be that bad if Kat enjoys’t stuff then.” she grinned, enjoying the banterous exchange a tad more than expected.  
Alfendi snorted involuntarily , “Oh no, she doesn’t enjoy it. She just likes to eat. I remember that my grandmother used to make the most wondrous homemade scones however whenever she brought us some Flora and I would have to rush to get even one before Katrielle scoffed the lot.”  
They were both laughing now, relishing in each others company. The laughs were bold and pure, full of life and delight; completely contrasting the severe and spiteful atmosphere that was more commonly found in the hearts of the criminals that surrounded their routines daily. 

Before they could utter another word Commissioner Barton burst through the door with a case file in his hands. “Alfendi, Lucy. I’m afraid I need to ask a favour from you.”he said, looking unusually rushed. It was a shame, Lucy thought, that they couldn’t just sit for a while longer and enjoy the moment, but she supposed it was just another day in the Mystery Room.

The next morning she cheerfully bounded into work with a new sense of contentment and comfort. She had planned to surprise Alfendi with a fresh scone from the nearby bakery but when she opened the door to the Mystery Room she found the office completely barren and empty. She walked up to the desk, on which was a small note that read, “Down in forensics, put the kettle on.”  
She laughed to herself before noticing the small box that was sat next to note. Opening it she found a slice of blackberry pie, it looked homemade. 

Lucy smiled to herself. Perhaps home wasn’t as far away as she had thought.

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was written with time restraints so this is literally a first draft that I kinda wish I'd started on earlier because there's a lot I want to change you know? Like re-writing a few lines to be more in character and generally just bulking it out more. I tried a new method of planning chapters and ehhhhhhh I'm not sure how good the results are. But hey I'm glad some people liked it enough to leave kudos and who knows maybe when I'm not so busy I'll find time to rewrite it one day.


End file.
